Team members

The service is based in the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh. Beds are located in Wards 106 and 107. Total beds now are 77, shared by all general surgeons.

Consultants

There are 11 NHS Consultant Surgeons in the Upper GI team: (Please click on consultant names for individual information)

Surgical trainees

7 Specialist Registrars (rotating throughout General Surgery) and 2 Advanced Training Fellows (1 Upper GI fellow and 1 Complex Abdominal Hernia). Foundation year 1 and 2 trainees contribute to the day to day care of inpatients.

Specialist OG Cancer Nurses

2 part time Clinical Nurse Specialists (Louise Graham and Nancy Bell)

Services

The service offers a full range of general elective and emergency surgery with particular specialty expertise in relation to oesophagogastric cancer, laparoscopic upper gastrointestinal surgery (including antireflux and biliary surgery), in addition to tertiary referrals for complex revisional hiatal hernia surgery, oesphagogastric emergencies, bariatric surgery and the treatment of complex abdominal hernias.

There is a combined South East Scotland Oesopho-gastric Cancer Multidisciplinary Team for the management of oesophago-gastric cancer. This involves clinicians from the Royal Infirmary, Western General Hospital, St Johns Hospital, Victoria Infirmary in Kirkcaldy, the Borders General Hospital and Dumfries and Galloway Royal Infirmary. All oesophago-gastric resections are carried out by:  Graeme Couper, Anna Paisley, Peter Lamb, Chris Deans and Richard Skipworth. Approximately 90 oesophago-gastric resections are carried out each year for malignant and complex benign conditions. A full range of interventional radiological and endoscopic facilities for the management of benign and malignant upper gastrointestinal (oesophagogastro-duodenal) disorders are available in Edinburgh, shared between the Western General Hospital and the Royal Infirmary.

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